MMartian Reviews

Bewitched (2005)

Average, not much more than an extended episode of the show...

[4/10 · 10 November 2005]

I was a fan of "Bewitched" growing up, but I didn't think it would translate well to a movie. And it looks like I was right. It wasn't bad the way most TV-to-Movie films have been (Dukes of Hazzard, anyone?), but it just wasn't a "good" movie. I like to see these movies and separate them from the series, as if they were an entity of their own--with Bewitched, you can't really do that, as the whole premise is that they're remaking the series itself. I did laugh at some points in the movie, and the actors did fine jobs (Shirley McClaine and Michael Caine being the best, along with an over-the top "Am I laughing with you or at you" Steve Carrell as Uncle Arthur), but the story was a bit flat, and the movie as a whole never really got going. I think one of the main problems was, you never really knew whether to like Will Farrell's character or not. It was hard to tell if he was liked universally as an actor before his last bomb of a film, or if he (similar to the recent adventures of Tom Cruise) had successful movies, but people generally didn't like him as a person anyway.

Farrell and Kidman both have some funny moments, but for the most part, it's like you're waiting for something to happen, yet it never does. A definite rental, or even better yet, wait for it to hit TV.

The Animal (2001)

Exactly what I expected...

[7/10 · 1 June 2001]

Let me preface by saying I am a fan of Rob Schneider, and of Adam Sandler. I enjoyed Deuce Bigalow, and all (except for Big Daddy) of Adam Sandler's movies. So I basically was expecting some (Ok, a lot) of low-brow humor, a decent plot to keep rolling through, and to laugh throughout the movie. This movie provided just that. It wasn't the greatest comedy in the world, or a landmark motion picture, and it wasn't made to be that. Colleen Haskell's skills at acting reminded me of when they put a "famous" non-actor on Saturday Night Live, and don't give them too much to do in the skits. She's only in the movie probably a total of 15 minutes, but does what they ask of her, and does a decent job of it. The movie is a hoot, and doesn't actually stoop to every joke being a f**t joke. I laughed about every 3-4 minutes, and enjoyed the ending as well. If you're expecting something similar to Deuce Bigalow, you won't be disappointed.